


Names I have called you

by dodger_chan



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: M/M, gratuitous literary references, the whole fic is basically a collection of literary references
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-10
Updated: 2016-07-10
Packaged: 2018-07-22 19:33:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,328
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7451392
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dodger_chan/pseuds/dodger_chan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Five false identities Eames has made for Arthur. Or, Eames attempts to seduce Arthur using a combination of fake I.D.s and literary references.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Names I have called you

     The first job Arthur worked with Eames was a fairly simple extraction. Eames' skills as a forger were less essential to the job than Eames' local connections. It was his connections that were going to get them the identities they needed. Eames apparently liked to think of himself as a gentleman, and so courteously asked Arthur what name he'd like on his fake identification.  
     “Anything with Arthur is fine.” Arthur was working on developing an accurate schedule for their target and was not interested in a distraction. He hadn't been in the private sector long and needed to impress.  
     “You are allowed to have an imagination, now, Darling. You're not in the military anymore.” Eames was evidently a fan of imagination, given his specialty “Though I guess I can come up with a good one for you. Darling would make a lovely last name.”  
     “Arthur Norris.” Arthur blurted out the first full name that came to mind. Even on short acquaintance it was apparent that if he allowed Eames to pick his name, Eames would be calling him 'Darling” every time they worked together for the foreseeable future.  
     “What will you do if asked for identification by someone who's read Isherwood?” Eames asked with casual curiosity. Arthur kept his eyes focused on his work.  
     “Agree that it is a coincidence. It's not that unusual a name.” It was not a good idea to pick names from books, but Norris was fairly common.  
     “Am I going to need a new picture of you? One with a terrible wig?” Eames teased. It startled a smile out of Arthur, but he did not look up.  
     “I don't think that will be necessary, Mr. Eames.”

 

     The second job Arthur worked on with Eames was also his third with the Cobbs and required several border crossings. Eames again took on the task of acquiring spare passports. Eames gave Arthur his when he was on his way to scout a potential location for the extraction.  
     “Otto Nowak?” Arthur read the name with the proper German pronunciation and looked skeptically at his new identification. It was a German passport, identifying him as on Otto Nowak of Berlin. He had probably given Eames the idea after their first job. Eames smiled.  
     “I considered making you Peter, but you're English is always obviously American,” Eames explained. “Your German, however, sounds very Berlin.”  
     “And there's some reason I can't be an American?” Arthur rolled his eyes and puts his new passport into his jacket pocket.  
     “Not really.” Eames smiled at Arthur. Arthur turned around and walked down the hall, passing Cobb.  
“Where's Arthur going?” Cobb asked Eames.  
     “Out dancing with the local girls,” Arthur called back over his shoulder. Cobb looked at Eames, puzzled, and Eames' laughter echoed behind Arthur as he walked away.

 

     “No.” Arthur was going to kill Eames  
     “Honestly, Darling,” Eames began, but Arthur interrupted him.  
     “I agreed to help you. I did not agree to this.” Arthur pointed at his false paperwork, identifying him as one Wilmer Cook of New York. “We will be arrested as soon as anyone looks at it.”  
     “That's not the way things are done here,” Eames explained. “No one expects that we'll be using our real names.”  
     “So it doesn't matter that you've made me a gunman in one of the most famous detective stories in western literature?” Arthur snorted. There wasn't much flattery in Eames picturing him as Elisha Cook, Jr. Or as a kid who's skills, so the movie implied, were lacking.  
     “To be fair,” Eames objected, “Wilmer was as much a kept man as a gunman.”  
     That did not make it better.  
     “At least tell me you're not Sam Spade,” Arthur sighed.  
     “Of course not.” Eames responded indignantly. “I used the name Joel Cairo.”  
     The most positive thing Arthur could say about that job after the fact was that Eames did not set him up as a fall guy in the pursuit of a potentially non-existent statue.

 

     The next time Arthur worked a job with Eames he almost handled the necessary false passports and other identification himself. But there were complications with their target's schedule and Eames again proved to have good local contacts. And this time, Eames swore he would pick only the best false names.  
     “See, your first name is even Arthur.” Eames pointed out. Arthur studied his passport. Arthur G. Geiger. The name was suspiciously familiar, but he couldn't place it.  
     “What name are you using?” He asked Eames.  
     “Carol Lundgren.” Nothing Arthur had heard before.  
     “Carol is a woman's name.” Arthur pointed out.  
     “It is a family name.” Arthur had to give him credit. Eames used just the right amount of resigned annoyance for a man stuck with the name Carol.  
     While waiting for their target to leave his office one night Arthur googled the name Geiger. He found The Big Sleep. Less known than The Maltese Falcon, perhaps, but still too known for comfort. At least Eames had chosen a minor character for his name. He felt a little less sanguine after the job, when Arthur read the book and discovered the role played by Carol Lundgren.

 

     During the inception job, Arthur didn't think about false identities and passports. He was still welcome in the United States. Ariadne had no record. Eames had his own collection of fake identities. Cobb was even traveling under his real name. He was surprised at the airport when Eames handed him a passport with his picture and the name Maurice Hall.  
     “What's this for?” He asked. Eames just smiled mysteriously at him.  
     “For later, Darling, if you want to use it.”  
     Arthur nearly forgot about the passport in the mess of unexpected militarization and narrowly avoiding being caught in the act of inception. He saw Ariadne at customs, Cobb through security (a great relief), Eames at baggage claim and himself to the line of taxi cabs.  
     Sitting in the back of the cab, Arthur looked over the passport. It was British, unusual given Eames' opinion on Arthur's English. It was also useless as an ID without more work. Their was no driver's license, birth certificate, green card, or other identification paperwork. The passport had no travel history in it either. What did Eames want him to use the passport for? Arthur wondered. He considered the name on the passport and began to form an idea. He knocked on the window between him and the driver.  
     “I need you to take me back to the airport.” Arthur would tip well to make up for the lost fair.  
It may not mean anything, Arthur knew. Eames liked playing games and frustrating Arthur. Still, Arthur called a couple of airlines and found that an Alec Scudder was booked on a flight to Buenos Aries out of LAX later that afternoon. He bought himself a ticket on the same flight and found his way back through security and customs.  
     Eames was waiting at the gate, leaning against a column that was not needed to hold up the ceiling.  
     “I wasn't sure you'd come.” He spoke offhandedly, like he didn't really care what Arthur did.  
     “I almost didn't,” Arthur admitted. “I wasn't sure you'd be here.”  
     “It would have been more appropriate for me to surprise you at your hotel later,” Eames smirked. “I might have, if you hadn't come. You've not exactly been the quickest on the uptake,  
Darling.”  
     “You're the one who insisted on courting me with fake IDs.” Arthur pointed out. “You could have been more direct.”  
     “But where would be the fun in that?” Eames asked. Arthur shrugged. It was certainly the most creative way he'd ever been asked out. “So, Love, what comes next?”  
     “I'm not hiding out in what remains of the English wilderness.” Arthur had read the omitted epilogue. It was crap.  
     “I'm sure we can do better than that.” Eames grinned down at him. Arthur grinned back. This would likely end badly, but until then it could be a lot of fun.

**Author's Note:**

> The books Eames uses to find names:  
> Mr. Norris Changes Trains, by Christopher Isherwood (Arthur Norris)  
> Goodbye to Berlin, by Christopher Isherwood (Peter and Otto)  
> The Maltese Falcon, by Dashiel Hammett (Wilmer Cook and Joel Cairo)  
> The Big Sleep, by Raymond Chandler (Arthur Geiger and Carol Lundgren)  
> Maurice, by E.M. Forster (Maurice Hall and Alec Scudder)
> 
> The characters chosen by Eames are romantically linked, otherwise he would have used Sam Spade.


End file.
